Kryztian
21st September 2020, 00:25
All quote taken from this article. Please DO read it https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/fincen-files-financial-scandal-criminal-networks
Buzzfeed (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/fincen-files-financial-scandal-criminal-networks) has received a treasure trove of leaked documents showing how banks like Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, and Bank of New York (Mellon) have been aiding and abetting terrorist, drug cartels, child trafficking, Ponzi schemers and corrupt dictators by helping them launder money through their banks.
The documents also show that the U.S. Treasury Department, though its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, failed to stop these crimes or stop banks from engaging in this activity.
Suspicious payments flow around the world and into countless industries, from international sports to Hollywood entertainment to luxury real estate to Nobu sushi restaurants. They filter into the companies that make familiar items from people’s lives, from the gas in their car to the granola in their cereal bowl.
The FinCEN Files expose an underlying truth of the modern era: The networks through which dirty money traverse the world have become vital arteries of the global economy. They enable a shadow financial system so wide-ranging and so unchecked that it has become inextricable from the so-called legitimate economy. Banks with household names have helped to make it so.
Just a few of examples of the many, many crimes the banks have helped to finance and the U.S. Treasury has permitted to occur:
Standard Chartered moved money on behalf of Al Zarooni Exchange, a Dubai-based business that was later accused of laundering cash on behalf of the Taliban. During the years that Al Zarooni was a Standard Chartered customer, Taliban militants staged violent attacks that killed civilians and soldiers.
HSBC’s Hong Kong branch allowed WCM777, a Ponzi scheme, to move more than $15 million even as the business was being barred from operating in three states. Authorities say the scam stole at least $80 million from investors, mainly Latino and Asian immigrants, and the company’s owner used the looted funds to buy two golf courses, a 7,000-square-foot mansion, a 39.8-carat diamond, and mining rights in Sierra Leone.
Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, American Express, and others collectively processed millions of dollars in transactions for the family of Viktor Khrapunov, the former mayor of Kazakhstan’s most populous city, even after Interpol issued a Red Notice for his arrest. Khrapunov, who had already fled to Switzerland and who claims the allegations are politically motivated, was later convicted in absentia on charges that included bribe-taking and defrauding the city through the sale of public property.
There are several news stories about the FinCEN, but Buzzfeed's is by far the most comprehensive and mentions names of people, companies and banks. Most articles would not mention these names, unless the name was clearly of someone criminal. The most notably vacuous article was in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/20/leak-reveals-2tn-of-possibly-corrupt-us-financial-activity), which only mentioned one name, Paul Manafort, presumably because it could connect him to the Trump Administration. It provided a nice big picture of Manafort at the top of the page, but no information of how he participated in money laundering and how much of the funds were involved.
Buzzfeed (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/fincen-files-financial-scandal-criminal-networks) has received a treasure trove of leaked documents showing how banks like Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, and Bank of New York (Mellon) have been aiding and abetting terrorist, drug cartels, child trafficking, Ponzi schemers and corrupt dictators by helping them launder money through their banks.
The documents also show that the U.S. Treasury Department, though its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, failed to stop these crimes or stop banks from engaging in this activity.
Suspicious payments flow around the world and into countless industries, from international sports to Hollywood entertainment to luxury real estate to Nobu sushi restaurants. They filter into the companies that make familiar items from people’s lives, from the gas in their car to the granola in their cereal bowl.
The FinCEN Files expose an underlying truth of the modern era: The networks through which dirty money traverse the world have become vital arteries of the global economy. They enable a shadow financial system so wide-ranging and so unchecked that it has become inextricable from the so-called legitimate economy. Banks with household names have helped to make it so.
Just a few of examples of the many, many crimes the banks have helped to finance and the U.S. Treasury has permitted to occur:
Standard Chartered moved money on behalf of Al Zarooni Exchange, a Dubai-based business that was later accused of laundering cash on behalf of the Taliban. During the years that Al Zarooni was a Standard Chartered customer, Taliban militants staged violent attacks that killed civilians and soldiers.
HSBC’s Hong Kong branch allowed WCM777, a Ponzi scheme, to move more than $15 million even as the business was being barred from operating in three states. Authorities say the scam stole at least $80 million from investors, mainly Latino and Asian immigrants, and the company’s owner used the looted funds to buy two golf courses, a 7,000-square-foot mansion, a 39.8-carat diamond, and mining rights in Sierra Leone.
Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, American Express, and others collectively processed millions of dollars in transactions for the family of Viktor Khrapunov, the former mayor of Kazakhstan’s most populous city, even after Interpol issued a Red Notice for his arrest. Khrapunov, who had already fled to Switzerland and who claims the allegations are politically motivated, was later convicted in absentia on charges that included bribe-taking and defrauding the city through the sale of public property.
There are several news stories about the FinCEN, but Buzzfeed's is by far the most comprehensive and mentions names of people, companies and banks. Most articles would not mention these names, unless the name was clearly of someone criminal. The most notably vacuous article was in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/20/leak-reveals-2tn-of-possibly-corrupt-us-financial-activity), which only mentioned one name, Paul Manafort, presumably because it could connect him to the Trump Administration. It provided a nice big picture of Manafort at the top of the page, but no information of how he participated in money laundering and how much of the funds were involved.